Go to the archives and look up the thread called "Guns" dating 7/30/2002
"Correct Kosher Killing" and "Killing" threads dated 2/10/2000
From Helmut Lang: "...distance is important. If you are too close the bullet has not the right kind of power. We do fieldharvesting at a distance of 15 m and haven't had a problem until now. Please don't use hollow point 22mm."
From Charles Beam: "I have had both good and bad experience in killing sheep. I want to make sure one shot puts him down with no pain and that he doesn't get loose. The heads are very tough. I have shot 9 or 10 month old rams in front of the head while penned in a small pen with a 22 cal rifle when they barley flinched. I used a 25 automatic pistol shooting through the back of the hump on the back of his head toward his brain. This is very dangerous if you are holding him as I did. The 25 cal would not kill one of my old polled rams from the back or side of the head. My 22 cal rifle dropped him from the side of the head behind the ear. I have used it very successfully ever since. In the near future I hope to build a head lock on a 2" pipe post. I will lock his head in so he can't get away then either shoot him or cut his throat. I believe this is safer and more humain. If I shoot the animal, I put the gun on safety on the ground and cut his throat immediately. If I just cut his throat, I have a rope on him, and I am prepared for a struggle. The Islamics always have the animal on the ground. One holds his head and cuts the throat while someone else holds the body flat on the ground."
From Jason Apol: "Sorry to revisit this subject folks, but I had a bummer of a time putting a ram down today. Helmut, you mention shooting the animal from the side of the head so that the bullet goes through the brain. After the fourth shot from point blank just behind and above the ear, I switched to the back of the skull entering about 1 to 2 inches from the rear of the horns heading forward for what I thought to be the brain location. (Draw a line from top entry through the top of the mouth and that would approximate the bullet path.) After three more shots here, I switched from .22 to 9mm. That took three more, but finally finished the job. I opened him up to discover at least two inches of fiber / cartilage in the back of the head also. I had seen that first hand up in the front of the head in another animal, but assumed that the back was thin. Is the most effective bullet placement at the ear? And is a higher caliber rifle in order? I want to put the next one down quickly with one shot and don't want to make a mess in the process."
At 01:47 AM 8/25/2004 -0400, you wrote:
Although I have been raising BBs for several years now, I have never slaughtered one and haven't even eaten any hairsheep meat.
I am at the point now where I am ready to try some.
I have a few "newbie" questions concerning killing/eating your own sheep.
I have read that 12 to 15 months is the best age? My BBs seem awful small at that age. Will there be enough meat? Should I consider getting a katahdin, or dorper ram to sire the slaughter animals?
What is the best way to kill them? This is if I try to process it myself, which I haven't decided yet. Do I need to catch them "unawares" and shoot them behind the ear? Will this affect the other sheep in the future. They are reasonably tame around me now, will the remainder of the flock be smart enough to avoid me after that?
If a local slaughter house does it the animal HAS to be taken ALIVE(in Alabama)to them. Is this going to ruin the taste of the meat? (getting them all excited?)
How should I have the butcher cut it up? In other words, what do you get out of these sheep? Is a 40? lb animal worth taking to the slaugher house?
Sorry for the ignorance, I intially never intended to raise any for slaughter, but I have heard so much about how good it is, plus I eat a large amount of meat anyway, so I thought, "why not eat some of my sheep? I have plenty"
Basically I need someone to guide me through how to go about doing this. Or, is there a book anyone would recommend that explains slaughtering your own sheep?
Thanks, Chris B.
===============================================
This message is from the Barbados Blackbelly Sheep mailing list (http://www.awrittenword.com/listserv/index.html).
To respond to this message, send e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To unsubscribe or change your membership options, go to http://lists.coyotenet.net/mailman/listinfo/blackbelly
To search the archives, go to http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
=============================================== This message is from the Barbados Blackbelly Sheep mailing list (http://www.awrittenword.com/listserv/index.html). To respond to this message, send e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe or change your membership options, go to http://lists.coyotenet.net/mailman/listinfo/blackbelly To search the archives, go to http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
